1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to handguns, and more particularly to handguns of the revolver type having interchangeable barrels.
2. History of the Prior Art
It is known to provide handguns with interchangeable barrels for various reasons such as the ability to replace a worn or defective barrel. Examples of guns having replaceable or removable barrels are provided by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,238,587 of Gaidos, 4,109,403 of Badali, 2,747,313 of Crittendon et al, 3,150,458 of Browning, 1,373,888 of Johnson, 2,736,119 of Clarkson et al, 3,842,527 of Low and 3,464,136 of Wilhelm.
As shown by the above patents to Badali, Browning and Wilhelm, most handguns of the automatic type have removable barrels as part of the feature of such handguns that they are relatively easily disassembled for care and cleaning and parts replacement. As exemplified by the Badali patent the design of automatic type handguns is such that the barrel can be adequately secured to the frame of the gun simply by disposing the barrel in abutting relation with other parts of the gun frame and then securing the barrel in this position with screws or similar devices.
Revolvers, on the other hand, present a different type of handgun design which typically requires that the barrel be secured to the gun frame in a much more substantial manner than in the case of the automatic type handgun. As exemplified by the Gaidos patent the barrel of a revolver type of handgun is typically mounted by threading the rear portion of the barrel and screwing the threaded portion of the barrel into a threaded aperture in the gun frame until an extremely tight fit is achieved. A barrel vise and other special equipment is typically required to remove or replace such a barrel. In any event the replacement cannot be done easily or quickly or without the use of the special tools and in many cases the application of substantial force beyond the strength of many individuals. With barrels of the type that screw into the gun frame there is the further problem that it is often difficult or impossible to position the barrel so that the front sight at the outer end of the barrel is in a precise upright position. The tendency is to tighten the barrel to a reasonable extent, after which the barrel is further tightened or loosened slightly until the front sight is in the proper position. At that, however, precise sight positioning is difficult or impossible to achieve without special equipment which indicates when the sight is in the exact upright position. Conventional handguns of the revolver type suffer from the further disadvantage that while the barrel may be replaceable, typically there is no provision for use of barrels of different caliber in conjunction with other interchangeable parts to provide a handgun of variable caliber.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a handgun having an interchangeable barrel which is relatively easily and quickly removed from and installed in the gun.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a handgun in which the barrel may be changed relatively easily and quickly without the need for special tools or substantial strength on the part of the person changing the barrel.
It is a further object of the invention to provide interchangeable barrels for a handgun which utilize existing parts of the handgun in the indexing and registration of the barrel upon installation and which require little or no modification of the handgun and do not substantially alter the appearance of the handgun.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide interchangeable handgun barrels which combine with other interchangeable parts of the handgun to provide the handgun with a multi-caliber capability and at the same time a safety feature to prevent the use of a given barrel with ammunition of larger caliber.